Trevor and Billy flew into Adam, their collisions purposeful. “Oof.”
“Uncle Adam,” Trevor said with all the urgency of an eight-year-old. “I got a goal in soccer. It went right over the goalie’s head.”
Not to be outdone, ten-year-old Billy cut in. “I got first seat trumpet in band this year. I beat all the sixth-graders. I can’t wait for school to start.”
“That’s a new one,” Janine mumbled, rumpling both her sons’ hair.
“You guys rock,” Adam said. “I have the coolest nephews ever.”
They both grinned, and although blond Trevor and dark-haired Billy didn’t look much alike at first glance, their smiles were nearly identical.
“I love it when all my kids are in one place,” he heard, and the kids stepped aside to let Adam’s mother hug him. “How are you?”
“Same, no change,” Adam said, inhaling his mother’s classic French perfume, the kind he got her for Mother’s Day every year, as she rested her head of brunette curls on his chest. He glanced guiltily at the closed bedroom door. “Let’s go see what I have to eat.”
“Probably nothing, as usual,” Pam said. “So we brought plenty.” She headed to the kitchen, two hungry kids scampering behind. Adam went to follow them, but turned to check the door one last time.
It was open, and Janine was stepping out into the hall.
“What are you doing?” Adam asked.
“Tossing my sweater on your bed, where I always put it.”
“Why are you wearing a sweater? It’s like eighty-five degrees outside.”
“Why are you packing? Are you going somewhere?”
Adam pushed his sister back into his room and kicked the door shut.
“Oh,” Janine squealed, balling her fists in excitement. “It’s a secret. What is it?”
“None of your business,” Adam said, pulling on a black T-shirt and trying to sound fierce enough for his sister to back off. He should have known it would only intrigue her further.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she insisted, her threatening tone matching his. She was only a year older than him, but somehow she always managed to make it seem as if it were much more.
“Or what?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Or I’m telling Mom.”
“What are you, five? Besides, you don’t even know what you’re telling her,” Adam countered, getting a bit nervous.
“I don’t have to. I’ll just tell her something’s up and she’ll drag it out of you.”
Adam knew she was right. “Janine, I’m serious.”
“So am I. You can’t just be taking off somewhere, all cloak-and-dagger, with like a month’s worth of clothes, and leave us here to worry about you.”
“I’m not going far.”
“Where’s not far?”
The two siblings glared at each other in a silent standoff, until Janine broke it by throwing open the door and yelling, “Mom!”
“You’re not even my real sister,” Adam said in juvenile desperation. “Mom and Dad just felt sorry for you when your spaceship left without you, and they took you in.”
Janine put her hands on her hips. “For your information, I didn’t even believe that when I was a kid.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No, I didn’t,” she said, “because I happen to know for a fact that a pack of mangy wolves left you on our doorstep when you were a baby.”
“Really?” asked Trevor, who had come into the room without the adults noticing. “You’re a wolf, Uncle Adam?”
“I’m not just any wolf,” Adam told his towheaded nephew. “I’m the Big Bad Wolf.” He howled menacingly and lunged, causing Trevor to shriek. Elmer bounded in and added his puppy howls to the fray. Laughing, Janine joined in. Billy ran in to see what the racket was about and began howling too without knowing why.
An earsplitting whistle pierced the air, and the noise abruptly ceased.
“It’s clear I raised a bunch of wild animals,” Pam said to the silence. A few giggles came from the two boys.
“Billy and Trevor,” Pam said, “go to the living room and take Elmer with you.” She turned to the two adults, and Adam detected a twinkle in her eye. “Watch TV for a few minutes. I need to talk to my children.”
The boys, snickering the way kids did when they saw their elders being treated like fellow kids, edged out of the room, Billy gently tugging a still-scrabbling Elmer by the collar.
Adam marveled, and certainly not for the first time, at how his mother, the epitome of homespun living, could put an effective smackdown on a roomful of misbehavior.
“Mom,” Janine said. “Adam has something to tell you.”
“Space-alien girl,” Adam muttered.
“What is it?” Pam demanded of her son. When he didn’t answer, she scanned the room for a hint, and saw the open suitcase, half filled with T-shirts and boxer shorts. She addressed her daughter. “What is going on?”
Janine shrugged, eyeballing her brother.
Adam threw up his hands in defeat, and walked over to the suitcase. He had plenty to do, and he really couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
“I’m moving out for a little while,” he said. “And I fully intended to tell you. Janine, I was going to ask you if you want to stay here with the boys and keep an eye on the place. For free. I’ll keep up the rent.”
Janine appeared suddenly ecstatic. Adam knew she’d hated to impose on their mother by having to stay with her since her recent divorce. Although Adam suspected Pam didn’t mind in the least.
“For how long?” Janine asked.
“Oh,” Adam said, trying to sound nonchalant, “about a year.”
“A year?” Janine yelled.
“Did you get some kind of transfer?” his mother asked, and Adam noticed she was trying to stay calm. He hastened his explanation.
“No, I’m going to stay with Molly for a while.”
Both women stared at him. “Is Molly okay?” Pam asked. “She’s not sick, is she?”
“No, not exactly. She’s kind of—well, pregnant.”
Silence.
Adam began folding clothes faster. “So I’m going to marry her for a little while. It’s not a big deal.”
The silence continued, and when he ventured a glance up, both women had their mouths wide open.
“She’s pregnant?” Janine finally asked. “She—you and she—”
“No,” Adam interrupted. “Not me. I’m not the father.”
“But you’re marrying her?” Pam asked. “So you’re in love with her?”
“No,” Adam said quickly. “Absolutely not in love. Just helping out. Best-friend duty.”
“Why?” Janine